


And she stays anyway au

by mikeellee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BAMF Lily Evans Potter, Bigotry & Prejudice, Bullying, F/M, Magic Made Them Do It, Magic Revealed, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Possessive Behavior, What-If, Witchcraft, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:01:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25491319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikeellee/pseuds/mikeellee
Summary: Summary: What if Petunia sneak into Hogwarts? Would that change anything or nothing?This fic is a project of mine. I want to explore more magic and show Howgrats ugly head and give some good changes. Well, I´ll try, that´s it. I mean, what is a Squib? and what´s truly magic in this world? huge au as Petunia Evans won´t be like a canon.Being edited soon by Ottogatto.
Relationships: Lily Evans Potter & Severus Snape, Lily Evans Potter/Severus Snape, Petunia Evans Dursley & Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 63
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

N/A: I think everyone can see I hate canon. Especially about Severus, so, here is my attempt to do another au with a happy ending. Based on a fic I read (and didn´t like the ending) anyway, some explanations here. So, look I´m not sure how to make this Petunia without having to change a lot about her(never like that she was just "Sister who is JELLY") so while I´ll not make her the warmest person in the room...I´ll try to give her some depth and make her have some empathy for Snape(again, she may not like him for now but she can have some sympathies for his situation) and yes, they´re kids here. Lily and Sev have 12 years old and Pet has 13.

Ottogatto beta this

The King Cross-platform is usually crowded. People coming and going to new places for many reasons -- work, visit a friend, a lover or just to go to school. But, no one pays any mind to the wall between platform 9 and 10. And if the spell still works no one will ever notice it. Mr and Mrs Evans are saying goodbye to Lily and Snape. Petunia starts to notice the absence of Mrs Snape too much. Why isn’t she there to see his freak of a son going to a freak school? Mrs Evans hugs the two children tightly with watery eyes -- Petunia resists from rolling her eyes at this scene - and Mr Evans speaks: "Behave you two, we´ll see each other at Christmas. Pet, want to say something to your sister?"  
And Petunia is old enough to throw a tantrum. "Uhm, have a good trip... Whatever," she says, emulating some pop figures from the Tele -- a new actress is breaking the role by having such manly role. She says ‘whatever’, wears pants, and doesn´t care about anything. Petunia thinks she´s cool -- and well, Mr and Mrs Evans shake their head at this demonstration of affection.  
She looks at Snape. Too skinny for his age. Too silent. She lets escape one single phrase. "Have a good trip you too, Snape.” The boy, unsure of what to say -- why? Is Snape that shy or is he looking down at her? -- just nods mutely.  
Lily takes his hand and they both run to the train, waving goodbye to the Evans. Petunia watches as her parents are too focused looking to a certain window, where Lily and Snape are right now, to notice Petunia running like the wind in direction to the train.  
"Petunia!" one of them calls. Was that her father or mother? To be honest, by the time she slips into a small door of the train, careful to not fall, and manages to land her feet -- without any grace -- on a metallic flooring still outside of the train, Petunia has the time to realize what she’s just done.  
"Well, let´s see who can and cannot go to this school now, Dumbledore." Petunia tries to sound cool, but the fact is that she is in such a precarious situation. She keeps thinking that if the train falls to the right, she´ll be the first to die. It’s not ladylike to have such morbid thoughts… Her hand is holding the doorknob as if her how life depends on it.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________  
"Bloody hell, are we going to Scotland?"   
Petunia recognizes some of the landscape as being from Scotland -- one of her peers mentioned visiting Scotland and how it was lovely. Petunia disagrees wholeheartedly. From her position, she can hear some old voices come inside the train.  
"Ladies, we´re arriving at school in a few moments, Alyssa, better change your robes."  
"Ahhh, come on...this is such cutie outfit."  
"Now, Alyssa."  
"Fine."  
Petunia cracks a smile. Oh, so they´re those different from the girls from her school. Lily once mentioned how everyone was so different from her old school… Petunia will scold Lily later. Those girls appear to be normal... unless, they´re Diehards or something...  
Now that Petunia thinks about it, Lily never mentioned if there were non-human students there. As she´s musing about the past -- did Lily lie or did Petunia uncover a secret that not even Lily knew? -- a few things come to her attention.  
1) Scotland is cold, and she’s lucky to wear such warm clothes.  
2) The day is almost over and Petunia can see the moon high and might as always.  
3) Petunia is still on a magic train, one that no Muggle ever rode before.  
4) Petunia has no idea what to do.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________  
The sky becomes pitch black. The moonlight is not enough for Petunia, however it appears to be enough for the others, or so she thinks. As the train is slowly stopping, Petunia manages to climb on the top of the train, laying and resting there. No one looks on the train roof in this pitch-black darkness.  
A huge man with a torch shouts: "First years with me!" and so the mass of students is organizing. 

Petunia opens her eyes to see lots of heads. Searching for a red hair here should be easy. But Petunia is wrong. Four redheads come into her view yet none of them are Lily. Plus one of them is too tall to be her.  
"Fuck."  
Cursing is not ladylike.

* * *

Four redheads come into her view and none of them are Lily. One of them is too tall to be her.  
"Fuck."  
Cuss is not ladylike.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Once the majority of the students are out of view, Petunia deems it safe enough to climb down the train. If she survives all this ordeal she´ll tell her kids how she climbed down gracefully – she won´t ever reveal the truth that she slipped and was about to fall and break something. In fact, as she closes her eyes waiting for the impact all she can think is "Hey, it's not so bad... It's as if nothing is hurting." She opens her eyes to see she´s a few inches above the floor.  
She´s floating.  
She is floating.  
"Take that, Dumbledore... You´re wrong!"  
And slowly she puts a foot on the floor, next to the other, smiling silly all the way through. She looks around and here comes the next big challenge. "Where should I go?"  
Hogwarts is so close. Hogwarts is so far away. And she has no idea how she´ll go to school now.  
Mom, dad... Lily...

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Time flies by – how long has she been here? minutes, hours, or years? After all, what magic can and cannot do is something Petunia never thought of before. The teenager ventures to the path where some carriages are being used. She recalls a boy shouting in the carriage – while she was at the top of the train – something about: "Why does she prefer to hang out with Snivellus rather than me?" as one of them had replied: "Bad luck."  
"What do I do?" The path seems long and endless. "I´m here... and I´m not backing out... I deserve to be here too," she says, but remains root to the spot. "Do I deserve to be here? And why? Lily has good hair and pretty eyes... Maybe... I shouldn´t be here... I´m just so ordinary."  
She notices something out of the bushes. She gulps and tries to run, however, the creature is faster and appears first. A skeleton horse – Petunia rubs her eyes and does the most sensible thing – she takes a deep breath and screams. And then starts to run, unfortunately, she trips into something. She speaks as the creature is coming closer, bracing herself. "Please, please don´t kill me" Sure the creature will make her a nice snack out of Petunia.  
Mom, dad, Lily...Snape. I´m so sorry.  
Instead of a big and fatal bite, the horse is just sniffing at her and nothing more. Petunia looks up and the creature doesn´t seem so scary anymore. "You won't... kill me?"  
The horse tilts its head.  
"I... I thought this was my place but maybe..." She notices the fat tears – she tastes her own tears and takes a deep breath – "I thought I could be special too. I thought I was... something else... but... I´m not... I don't even know how to reach the school..." She cries a little more until the horse neighs, prompting Petunia to rise.  
"You know, when I was little, people used to bully me and call me horse face and I start to dislike horses because of that... But, you know, you´re kind of cool. Bet no one bullies you." 

________________________________________________________________________________________

"I´m telling you," Lily says with a bright smile. "Pet is not so bad now... She´s changing, Sev."   
"Uhm, ok, sure. I guess some people can change." He changes the subject. "Lily, are you hungry?"  
"Oh, yes. I hope they have pudding."  
"Yeah... And I hope they have – PETUNIA!"  
Lily looks to the right to see her sister riding what appears to be an invisible horse, smiling at them. "Hi, nice night, isn´t it? Oh, Dumbledore is wrong."


	2. part 2

N/A: So, next chapter. I want to make things clear here: This is an AU and Petunia will be different from canon. And I hope this AU makes sense to you. I have no idea of Bella´s age here. If she´s older to already be out of school...ok, if she should be in school...I can say she was having some Pureblood party or whatever...

Petunia Evans is not that headstrong to deny one of her few flaws, if she was more headstrong maybe she wouldn´t have any flaw, and she can admit as she´s still saddle on the skeleton horse how Petunia Evans is not a planner, but, she does love to pose as one. She recalls one small picnic the Evanses made in the past and how Petunia was designated to take some sweeties to Lily- and she can´t recall what sweet was, in the end, all Petunia recalls is how she give her own candy to Lily and lied saying "I forget mine" and no one doubts-now, as Petunia is looking at Lily and some extension Snape...she has to admit...she has no real plan here.

  
This time...I can´t give a candy ...or can I?

Lily´s face brightens up as she saw her sister doing something impossible. "Pet, are you flying?" she inquires at her older sister- flying wandless or broomless is something she was thought to be impossible. Sev did say is not completely impossible, but, is not something easy to learn- Petunia frowns at this and doesn´t hide how this question seems dumb.

"Lily, aren´t you seeing Sugar Plum here?" Petunia wonders if the creature has a name-maybe it has. And maybe is something far noble than Sugar Plum, yet, the noble scary horse has yet to seem to care for the name- "come on, don´t be shy...he isn´t scary...that scary, I mean, he´s just a magical horse...right?" Petunia concludes. Normal horses aren´t like that. Horses, though, are scary animals too.

And Lily tilted her head. "Sugar Plum? Petunia...what are you talking about?" her tone is pressing and she looks at Petunia as if she´s a stranger. "There´s no horse here"

"Oi, there´s two here. I´m riding a horse and a horse is guiding your carriage...by the way...I thought the way to enter this school was way more...magic if it makes sense" Petunia can confess this much. Yeah, she thought all students would fly above magic land and everything is bright and colorful.

Severus holds his legs as Evans´s sisters are basically saying "Yes horse" "No horse" and it was somewhat similar to a Duffy Duck and Bug Bunny´s interaction- Sev saw a few episodes in Lily´s tele along with the Evans. Ironically, in those times, Petunia wasn´t present on that day- and while is funny to see the two girls going Looney Tuney Severus is the one to see the big picture here.

"Those are Thersals. Magical creatures that guide the carriages...to see them..." Severus now looks only to Petunia and asks. "Who did you saw die?"

"Thanks, Snape, nice to see you too!" Petunia greets him back and the boy rolls his eyes- Lily´s green eyes are glancing at him. She thought the carriages are magic and never questioned- the thersals stop when Snape manages to stop using a few words. Nothing magic. All he did was asked politely.

"Thersals are creature people can only see if one saw death...I can´t see, Lily can´t...but you can...who did you saw dying...." Snape explains and now Petunia can understand a bit more about Sugar Plum.

Petunia looks at Lily for a moment and then looks away. "The next-door-neighbour's cat. I saw the car hit the poor thing and ...and she was gone" Lily gasped and laments for the death of the poor cat ("Oh...that´s why...our neighbor was so sad...why no one told me?" "it was too morbid, I think, you´re so fond of that cat") and again, Severus is the one to see the big picture. Again.

"And what we´ll do with you? Muggles can´t be at the school!" and Petunia sends him an arrogant smile as she only replies. "Dumbledore is wrong. I´ve magic...and I´m a witch too" 

"No, look, no muggle ever entered the school. And you sneak into the school...this could lead you and us in problems" Severus talks back to Petunia-He still looks smaller and his vests look from second-hand ones, well, Lily is wearing those too...But, why Snape is always wearing bad clothes?- and the older girl is not having.

"Ok, maybe Dumbledore made a mistake. How one decides who can go and can´t go." is a good argument and Petunia was sure they would agree- who are they? Dumbledore? Maybe...Petunia is spatting ideas and ignoring feelings-until Lily pipes in with a big grin on her face.

"Actually, 200 years ago. A muggle called Catalina Agreste manages to sneak in and was accepted as a student in Hogwarts" Lily then gives an info dump. "She was the daughter of a Spanish diplomatic with a British woman. And had a real talent for spells...somehow, her letter never arrived, a mistake as latter people would find out, and she managed to sneak in and as I said before was accepted so...there´s a precedent!" Lily concludes her presentation and info dump.

Petunia and Severus blink astonishing at this. "God, you´re such nerd!" Severus jokes now grinning a little. Lily shows her tongue at him. "Prof Binns is a good teacher...if you had paid attention...." and Sev shakes his head saying something in the lines "Binns is too boring!" and Petunia is left outside of the conversation.

Will she love this Prof Binns or think he´s boring or will she even be allowed in this school?

Ideas over feelings.

Petunia clears her throat and speaks again. She´s here, isn´t she? "I´m here now...and if there were other muggles before me...why it won´t have others in the future? Mistakes can happen" Severus looks up and down at Petunia as Lily is beaming at the idea.

"You know, if" Sev looks at Lily and then back at Petunia. "This Catalina was a muggle and was accepted here...you can´t call us freaks ever again"

And Lily seems to grin amused at that. "Yes, no more using the word freak!"

Petunia opens and closes her mouth and sighs and nods her head in agreement. Mutely and sincere.

Lily claps her hands. "See, maybe Dumbledore planned all this. He saw your letter and change his mind..." and this changes the mood. "Lily....you saw my letter?" and Lily bites her lips and nods too. "Yeah, I read it...sorry, Sev" mentions softly looking at him and then back at her sister. "I thought your letter was well-written and maybe Dumbledore thought so too"

Petunia scowls. "Don´t mess on my letters again" and adds. "Is Dumbledore senile?"

"Yes!"

"No!"

_________________________________________________________________________________________

They arrived late as the sorting hat ceremony is already in place- Severus can hear someone people clapping hands as one Lyla Bones is sorted in Huffle-Puff- Lily is holding Petunia´s hand-a gesture too akin of protection and Petunia can pretend to put the bravest face ever. It would be effective if her knees weren´t shaking- "So...talk with Dumbledore and see what will happen..." Severus bites his lips and looks at the girls. "I could..." and Lily stops him.

"No, I get it..." she sighs sadly. "Your house will ask about you and...me and Petunia need to talk" Severus nods and mutters a soft sorry and Lily sends back a nice "no problem"

Severus is going to the main hall where the ceremony is taking place. Lily and Petunia are watching the boy vanishing from their sight with different feelings in their guts.

Hope he gets alright!

Did I miss something?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Regulus Black is already sitting with the right house, as his mother label, and is watching all the same faces he saw yesterday in one of his parents' balls-Regulus did attend but he can´t say anything that distinguished one ball to another. Lucky for him, no one ever asked his opinions- and his grey eyes noticed a young boy sitting next to the Malfoy her. Lucius Malfoy and this seems to please Malfoy.

Regulus is paying attention in the conversation-if anything, it must be more interesting than Flint´s obsession with quidditch- and catches a few words.

"I´m glad you...finally realize what´s a good company to you, Snape"

"I´m a slynterin...am I?"

"Of course" and Regulus sees Lucius patting the young boy´s shoulder in a brotherly way-through, Sirius was never kind or subtle-and moves his attention to a pretty girl who was vexing for his attention for some time. She smiles satisfied one she got it.

That´s pointless...he´s engaged to Cissy since they were babies.

And Cissy is not pleased to see this random girl and Lucius chatting, but, she´s not making a scene.

His eyes travel to where the boy is. Eating in silence. No one is talking to him.

"Regulus....what you think of Alec Sawmwell as the new seeker? The French hired this guy and ...he´s not that bad, I admit"

"He has talent..." Regulus concedes. "but the only talent is not enough" and then the conversation shift and no one is asking any more opinions to Regulus.

I miss Kreature...

  
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Severus pales as a ghost comes to Albus Dumbledore and whisper something into his ear and his electric blue eyes seem to twinkle and go to Snape´s directions. The boy lowers his head and only has one thought in mind.

I want to eat pie. I want to eat pie. I want to eat pie.

This continues until he lifts his head and sees Albus is leaving the main hall and by the looks of everyone this is not something planned.

"Crazy old man" someone mutters and Severus resumes to eat.

Please, let all be alright. I want us to be in Hogwarts.

(And he wonders if Petunia staying here will ever change things...)

Please, this is my home. Please. Is all I have.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Albus Dumbledore is not a man easily impressed. In fact, is easy for him to impress people than the other way around. However, as his twinkle blue eyes gaze upon Petunia Evans- too tall for her age, gangly too, yet, fierce staring at him. So fiercely showing all her feelings- Well, Albus is somewhat impressed. Even more so with her tale.

"I take Miss Evans here didn´t really help you with this plan, correct?" Albus states already knowing the answer. Lily swear by her magic it was a surprise. Petunia saying it was a thing of the moment. "Is like Howgrats was calling you...well, that´s a strange situation"

Lily is about to info dumb about Catalina when Dumbledore raises his hand preventing the backstory to be drop again. "I understand Catalina was a special case. I wasn´t alive when she was here...but, as Petunia put in her story...mistakes can happen, and what´s the other thing" he snaps his fingers 3 times until. "Oh, right, I´m wrong. And indeed, I´m wrong. I can see there´s some magic in you"  
  
"Really?" Petunia asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore grins approvingly. Petunia sighs in relief as does Lily. "Miss Evans, it seems this is school has a spot for you, now..." his tone is serious. "I must warn you that this school while having magic and many other fantastic creatures is still a school and we don´t offer favoritism to no one" and the corner of Petunia´s eyes show Lily fumbling in the chair and the girl exclaimed a bit peeved.

"And what about that group? They keep going after me and Sev..." and Dumbledore turns to see Lily with a more delicate grin- it was almost like Granpa Evans. Almost- and replies. "Miss Evans. I know you think what Potter and Black did last year was bad, but, I assured you ...it was just boys playing pranks and I recall they did lost points to their houses after that stunt" has a helpful tone but Lily didn´t seem to believe.

"But it shouldn´t have happened in the first place..."

"Maybe this year Potter and Black will grow out of this childish phase" and Lily humps in response. Now, his attention is back to Petunia. "Can you understand the rules of this school?" Petunia nods "Then, we´re lacking one thing here. Our school supplies..."

Lily prompts to offer her old ones, but, Dumbledore shakes his head. "No one would ever believe another Catalina´s case would happen, but, what do you know...we have some left material here. Old books, not all of them...some you´ll have to find in the library and some clothes"

And Petunia has to believe in karma because all the left material as Dumbledore so kindly put is from second or third hand- and the image of Snape comes in her mind. Is funny mock who wears bad items until you have to use it too- and Petunia only nods her head.

"Oh, and her wand?" Lily is talking too fast about the Diagon Alley but once again Dumbledore raises his hand. "Mr. Ollivander is out doing something in my request, is a personal thing" and Petunia and Lily extended glares. No one will question anything about it. "But I have here an old wand here...it was from an old student...from Ravenclaw...she passed away 38 years ago and ...her parents never wanted to take the wand back"

A wand of a dead girl? Morbid much?!

"Is temporary, of course, the wand picks the wizard but in this case ...you two must make acquaintance until Mr. Ollivander is back"

"Ok...I accept it"

"Now...all we need to do is ...decided which house Petunia will be" and Lily almost laugh when Dumbledore summons the sorting hat and puts on Petunia´s head-she was not pleased and speaks if he has cootie or anything like that and she almost jumps to the ceiling when the hat said he´s very clean thank you very much- and the selection begins.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Prof Slughorn is gathering his students together before they all went to their dorms. He wants to chat with them-wants to know what Lucius Malfoy did for the Summer and to thank the Malfoy for the gift- but all chit chat is put to an end when Albus Dumbledore arrives with a new girl-one that Prof Slughorn never saw before- and with a serene expression on his face.

And here comes the storm...

"I´d not want to bother you and your students, Prof Slughorn...but, we had a bit of a Catalina in our hands" and the man-who Petunia can think is really fat. Maybe he´ll be a nice teacher. One of her favorite teachers is a bit heavyweight- seems to understand and is looking at Petunia as if she´s something truly exotic. "She´s a new student for your house, Prof Slughorn...I trust your judgment" and he leaves.

Not the warmest speech. Dumbledore.

"Well, what´s your name, my dear?"

"Petunia Evans"

And this initiates a division on the group. Severus can somewhat sigh in relief as he wasn´t expelled -and it didn´t seem Lily was either as he saw now, of all times, a girl with red hair talking with other girls in Grynfyndor- but now, wonders about all his tomorrows.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

To say Petunia was received with open arms is the biggest lie she could ever hear or even say. A group of girls looks up and down at Petunia as if she´s trash- and Petunia is a firmer belief in karma now-Alecto Carrow is the name of the girl who introduces herself and is talking - trashing Petunia. 

Petunia supposed, if one can ignore all her cruel words, Alecto is somewhat pretty. She has nice curls and pretty eyes. But no amount of good hair can do that much of magic here.

"You filthy, disgusting, abomination, piece of dirt of muggle. How dare you to be here?" she is speaking and Petunia can even see some veins popping in.

Her eyes land on Snape who was reading a heavy book- heavy and big. Is he an avid reader or just...want to disappear- and well, Petunia is more than used to people speaking badly about her.

Horse face, horse face.

"You don´t belong here"

And maybe I don´t...

And Petunia closes her fist and punches Alecto in the mouth hard enough causing the girl to fall to the ground and notice some of her teeth are on the floor as well.

"You disgusting abomination. Sin. You´re a sin to magic"

"And I got your wand now...So...shut up, bitch"

And half of the room is sending death glares to Petunia while others are amused. No one talks to Petunia through.


	3. Part 3

N/A: Since this is an AU I can play loose with some people´s age so Bellatrix has 16 years old and while she is engaged and doing social pureblood things she is still a student also...also, this is a good way to do worldbuilding exercise.

The next day, all Lily could do is grin so wide-in the same fashion she did when her letter arrived or when she celebrated Christmas with her family or when she meets Sev- and it´s too unreal and real enough to cause whiplash in her young mind. "She´s here with us...or was a just dream?" and her roommates are too busy chatting about their holiday- Helena and Mary went to Greece with their families-to pay attention to what Lily just said. Maybe is for the better...

Once Lily dresses up all and now knows each detail of Mary and Helena´s trip - "Lily you should have seen Athens is gorgeous" "I bet it is" - and she watches her back to see Sev eating his breakfast- small bites but still eating and offering a small smile at Lily- and her eyes flick to the blonde girl who is eating in the same way Sev is. Now, Lily waves her hands frantically to this girl, and Petunia -sighs embarrassed as she let her forks down - waves her hands too in a more shy and reserved way.

Potter and Black noticed this exchange along with everyone else. "Lily, still friendly with the slimy snakes?" to Potter and Black´s credit, it wasn´t any of them who said this line, rather it was a boy from the third year, but his line is direct to Potter and Black who thought it was hilarious- Lily frowns at this but as the third-year boy skip this conversation for some reason she´s left alone with her friends and Black and Potter- and now Lily is crowed and resolves to take the cat out of the bag so to speak.

"My sister is from Slytherin!" Lily states and her green eyes meet with Petunia´s eyes- the girl has distanced away from the other students but is next to Sev while both are eating in silence- and tries to ignore the gasps and the pitying looks everyone is giving to them. Well, Black is doing none of those.

"Tsk, a friend and now a sister in the slime house? Lily, maybe you are in the wrong house" Black states and while Potter thought it funny-he seems giddy by this little provocation and by Lily´s hurt expression- Lily refuses to back down.

"Well, what´s the problem with the house? Not all of them are bad" Lily challenges back. And again the pitying looks. And this is making Lily peeved.

Sirius has a mocking smile on his handsome face- a pity such a handsome boy seems to be such bully-as he tries again. This time speaking in a slow tone as if dealing with someone with not very bright. "Everyone that goes to that house is destined to be evil" then he paused. "well, my cousin Androme escaped that fate...but let´s be real, Snivelous is destined to be one of the bad guys and now...your sister is well..." and Black looks at Potter who only nods in sympathize. Sirius laughs and the laughter is too similar to how a dog would laugh- if that ever makes sense, but, Sirius Black is a pureblood-and no one seems to mind.

"He has a point, Lily. Your sister picks the worse house ever...by the way" now he passes his hand over his messy hair. "You never told me you had a sister and is magic too"

"We thought she was a muggle but she proves to everyone she isn´t" she smirks at their reactions. "You see, she fall under Catalina´s case..." and now Potter stops her looking skeptical.

"Ah, the muggle that infiltrates the school and managed to study in Hogwarts?" Potter asked and Lily nods thinking that for once Potter isn´t so bad... if he knows this story ...

And James Potter laughs along with Sirus Black and even Peter-once Petegrew is laughing too. And he was so silent throughout the conversation- laugh too as the other girls shake their heads at Lily.

"Then it proves my point. Your sister truly belongs to Slynterin and ...you should be careful..." and before she knows it everyone keeps talking about how is bad for a muggle to be here. 

"Magic, Lily, is just for those who deserve it"

"But...wait a minute," Lily asked now confused but trying to not show. "How can we know who is worthy of magic?" and everyone parrots the same answer.

"The right house, Lily!"

And this makes absolutely no sense to Lily.

There´s something insidious in their answer. Even if is parrots. Even if there´s no variation in the line "the right house" but Lily Evans caught different meanings.

Only if your family is 100% magic.

Only if you´re from Gryffindor 

Only if you´re a man...

What is magic? and Lily is ever happy for something else happens to break their intense gaze on her- the head girl shows up and is furious mentioning something "Belatrix is back"- and Sirius ignores Lily to badmouth his older cousin.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Belatrix´s engagement is one of the juicy gossips. Narcissa, a third-year girl and the fiance of Lucius Malfoy- to assert any misunderstood, Lucius and Narcissa are engaged but the wedding will only be consummated once Narcissa is of age-is gossip this fact to everyone who wants to hear. Bellatrix can ignore this little fact. 

Narcissa is on the Slytherin common room sharing the news with her older sister. "And boom...Jenny got the same dress as me and everyone was laughing at her" Narcissa let a peal of snobbish laughter escape her lips.

Bellatrix can admire some psychological humiliation here and there, but, is not the reason for such a sisterly bond. "I heard something way worse than Jenny trying to outshine you...I heard we have filth in our house" and her eyes have a maniacal glee now. "Oh, no. I´m not talking about your dear charity case...Snape" she mentions this name as if is something dirty. "I´m talking about something far worse than a half-blood...A filthy muggle is in this castle and sleeping in our house"

Narcissa pales and gulps. "Well, she may not be a muggle if she´s here. You know, remember the case of Catalina? Maybe it was a mistake...after all, Dumbledore is clearly senile and he did make mistakes before"

"Oh, I see...you´re defending the scum...you all know Catalina is nothing more than a lucky case and..." Bellatrix now seems to ponder for a moment ignoring the inquisitive lock of her younger sister. "That case should never repeat again...muggles can´t handle magic"

"What?"

"Nothing for your pretty little head of yours to worry, Cissy. Now, where is the scum of Earth?"

Narcissa is shaking a bit as Bellatrix looks too much like a predator. "I don´t know...I really don´t know..." and she changes the topic. "By the way, Regulus is in Slytherin too. Wanna see him?"

Bella rolls her eyes. "I don´t want to see the spare, Cissy. I have better things to worry"

________________________________________________________________________________________

Petunia watches as all the other second years and above seem to ignore Snape- some are sending pretty nasty looks at the boy while others just ignore him- and Petunia watches as how everyone ignores her existence. See, Petunia had an idyllic version of Hogwarts where everything is perfect and wonderful- she imagined rainbows and stars and pretty elves teaching them about magic and all its core- yet, what Petunia gains is so similar to her old school is almost depressing.

An owl arrives near her with a message. Snape suggested Petunia offer something to eat to the bird before go take the letter- a piece of nice advice as the owl looks hungry- and once the exchanged was made Petunia is reading the letter- well aware of a pair of eyes glaring at her from the other side. The house where Lily is- "Hey, Snape, mom, and dad asked if you´re alright"

And Petunia looks at Snape´s plate and back to the skinny boy. "Ok, don´t make me go tell them you´re not eating your meals..."

"Are you trying to blackmail me?"

"No, I´m trying to make you eat healthily"

And now Snape picks his fork and put a big dosage of food and eats just to be spiteful. Petunia rolls her eyes and continues to read the letter.

No one expects me to be here...

Yeah...now the family has 2 witches.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Petunia´s first class was amazing. She´s learning spells. And she´s taking very well to the first spell she´s learning. Lumos. And even ears some points to her house- neutral reactions to bemusing ones. She noticed a pair of grey eyes stare at her in amusement throughout the day- and finally when she´s having her first class about potions. Well, Prof Slughorn left much to be desired.

"Petunia Evans?" the man is analyzing her face. Noticing her face and how different is from Lily- too tall and too gangly to be like Lily- and the man snaps his fingers as he opens a big grin.

"I know, are you a descendent of Nicholas Willafriend Vieth Evans?"

And Petunias wants to say a strong NO, but, she is giving enough rope to let this chubby professor hang.

"Maybe...our family doesn´t like to speak about the past" not a lie, per se, Harry Evans is a firmly believe to let the past in the past. And Petunia frowns and asks something that was troubling about Hogwarts.

"Why there´s no other Catalina´s case throughout the story?"

"Oh my dear, that was a mistake. Muggles...can´t handle magic, you see, is too dangerous so...we try to block muggles to access magic, but, of course, some mistakes are made as Catalina was obvious a witch, not a muggle. But...the rest...no, magic would consume them and destroy them" is a nice explanation to some of the students.

Not to Petunia who lifts her quill using her wand and so far she didn´t explode.

"Then tell me...what is magic? If magic is only to be used by purebloods and only purebloods why muggle-borns and half-bloods use it?" and Prof Slughorn has no answers for that. Even when a pair of grey eyes make the same question. 

"Mr. Black, let´s focus on the class. Today, I´ll teach you how to make a sleepless potion, now, pay attention cause there´re many types of potions but this one is the easiest but the longest one to make"

What is magic? Petunia vows to study it.


	4. Part 4

N/A: Plot continues. I am always a bit curious about Binns. I know he´s not well-liked-uhm, he´s seen as a joke- but a ghost teaching history? How cool is that?

The history of magic is a class Petunia heard all about-thanks to Lily who is proven each minute she talks about this class how much of nerd she is- and when Petunia enters the classroom, along with the first years of her house- a boy with grey eyes open the door to Petunia, more in a chivalry gesture than anything else- and from Hupple-puff. And Pet almost screams when she sees a translucid being- a man in his late 30´s more or less- floating above the ground.

** A ghost? A real ghost...does that mean....the religion and magic are together? **

Pet inwardly pats her back for keeping her cool. No one else-not even the muggle-borns from Hupple-puff seems to care about the ghost figure who will teach them. And sitting in a desk- she looks around and notices how this room mimics the old schools in England, not sure if this is a good thing or not- as the man starts to speak about the elfish wars.

Petunia´s eyes notice how one kid from her own house-still feels odd to call as such- is paying attention to each detail. A ghost can´t write, for obvious reasons, but, the blackboard seems enchanted to write what Binns wants to say.

All the other students are sleeping or about to sleep. Petunia Evans never was a fan of history...until she is part of history, so to speak. She raises her hand-winced mentally as she can see Lily doing the same with a big smile on her face- and not waiting for the professor Binns concludes his line of thought she asks. "What about that one muggle that went to Hogwarts? What happened to her?"

** Why no one seems to talk about her? **

Prof Binns was in the middle of an epic conclusion between the elfic wars, until, he looks up to Petunia- a dead person is looking at you. No, is its spirit- and now speaks in a somewhat distant tone. "Catalina was not the first muggle to ingress to Hogwarts...I was one too" and this changes the mood of everyone.

"What?" some asked in disbelief and others are looking to Prof Binns with new eyes. The boy with grey eyes is looking back and forth to Petunia and the professor.

"Yes, it was 300 years ago. I was a muggle the list didn´t call me and I managed to find Howgrats...is not that well hidden, if you ask me" and before anyone asks again. "I was put in Hupple- Puff. I had a real talent to play Quidditch"

Petunia will take his word for this. 

Another one?

"Did you...?" Petunia is not exactly the most caring souls out there, she knows this more than anyone else, but, even she can have a bit of tact or try to have some when asking how someone did die. "Did you die naturally?"

"Oh, you think they tried to murder me? Oh no...I mean, they tried but failed....in the end, as if life is playing a cruel prank...I die from a muggle disease. The flu, a disease the wizards have no cure and my ghost resumes to teach here"

"Why?" Petunia asks again.

"Because they never let me teach while alive...now they can´t take me out in death" Prof Binns has a light tone. Petunia´s eyes widen and she doesn´t like to imagine a future where she or Lily or even Snape have to die to get a job.

"Any more questions?" and many hands are raised in the air, even the Slytherin boy with grey eyes-he did question about magic and elves almost obsessively and well, Petunia can be gracious enough to ignore this- in the end, Prof Binns give a book to Regulus-the boy had to fetch himself in the closet- about the topic and the questions continue.

"I think, what most purebloods want you to know" Prof Binns gives a not so discreet look to this boy and now Petunia is curious, but, doing a great job in not being so apparent-"is how muggles are bad, how muggles did the witch-hunt and all that, but, the reality is that...muggles and wizards once walk together...and some pureblood families hate this"

** Yeah...I can imagine. **

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Prof Slughorn is more than happy to talk about the revelation Petunia sort confessed to him. Lily Evans is related to the famous German duelist Evans- Lily frowns at this and is ready to say she has no idea who this man is, when, Snape holds her hand and shakes her head. Lily continues to frown but in silence- and only went to teach once Lily snap at him- something she never did before- and the professor is now making a challenge.

"Who completes this potion in less than 1 hour and get right, will receive a prize" his bubble tone manages to get different reactions. Some happy, some unhappy and some are bored- Potter and Black and Pettigrew are in the later. Lupin is still missing visiting a sick aunt- and Lily and Sev sit together to make their own potions.

The words of her fellow mates still ringing in her mind. The right man, from the right house, is always right. It makes her shiver-it makes her think in some scary implications- and Sev notices. "Lily, are you ok? if you´re cold...I know some heat up spells" he offers kindly.

Lily shakes her head. "No, no. I´m fine. I..." she doesn´t want to say what her classmates said before. "I think I eat something bad...or my period is coming" she adds with an evil smile as this is a topic Sev refuses to talk.

Lily is really good at potions. A natural talent, as Prof Slughorn loves to say, yet, as her green eyes land on Sev cutting the ingredients with such precision and in so little time...she wonders many things. 

"Time is up!" Prof Slughorn speaks and Lily and Severus had their potions ready as everyone else- even Potter and Black who spend half of the time berating Pettegrew and throwing nasty looks at Severus and Lily- and when Prof Slughorn comes to her table a big smile comes into his rounded face.

"Miss Evans´s potion is perfect as always. I couldn´t expect less from a descendent of the great Evans" and Lily growl at those words- the only grandparent she had is her grandmother who still has trouble in using the video-tape- and her green eyes lack the usual happy-go-lucky.

"Professor, may I speak frankly?" Lily asked and the man in question allows. "I think you´re doing a disservice to the students by not paying attention to their potions. We" she looks at Snape for a moment and back at the professor "are here for 2 years now and you never reconize how Snape´s potions are genius and he completes the task first and I bet is better than mine"

Professor Slughorn wants to deny. Lily´s eyes dare him and the man is a self-declared coward.

And once inspecting the potion Snape made. His expression is of total astonishment. "My word, Mr. Snape, you made this potion all by himself?" and the boy nods.

"The thing about teaching, I think, is that it should be equal to everyone, not those who have the connection to buy" and his head tilted to the side to see in Slughorn´s desk an expensive gift on the desk. "something extravagant, but, is just me...if I was the teacher I would encourage all my students to learn." Potter and Black fake cough and call Snape nerd.

Prof Slughorn blushes and gives an excuse here and there. Ended up awarding them with 30 points to their houses and Prof Slughorn invited Snape to his club. Snape is not sure if this counts as a victory or not.

Lily beams at him. Well, it can´t be that bad this club...and he doesn´t need to go every day...right?

________________________________________________________________________________________

When Prof Binns let his students go much to their dismay. Regulus Black went straight to his room to reconize the face of Barty Junior on the way-one of the perks of being a Black is how you can get certain privileges. The boy has a room for himself. Mr. Black heard about half-bloods, plural, in the house and requested a room for his son, and paying Prof Slughorn with a nice gift is the best plan he could come up- and carrying his book as is a sacred thing. The boy foolishly looks around as if someone will jump in surprise.

Nothing happens.

"Kreature...can you come up" and in a pile of smoke the house-elf show up. His mug face remains the same, so, it's hard to imagine him smiling even if he tells he´s smiling. "I have a present for you"

Now his frown is more apparent. "We talk about this. I don´t want freedom, master"

Regulus bites his lips and shakes his head. "Not freedom...yet, but, explain to me why you don´t want freedom..."

"Where Kreature would go if young master freed me? I can´t return to my real house...I forget where it is and I wouldn´t survive here...and I would miss you" Kreature concludes in a soft tone.

"Why wizards need to have slaves? We have magic...No one in my family ever went to the kitchen" he exclaims a bit exasperated. Kreature is silent. "Tell me something...please, be honest, Voldemort could really help you?"

Kreature closes his eyes. "Kreature can´t say for sure. Nor I can say anything bad about the matriarch of the Blacks...she saved my life once, not sure if was intentional or accidental, but, she saved my life but she believes Voldermort is the answer for all her problems"

Regulus narrows his eyes. "And to your problems?"

"No, young master...he´s not..."

"Ok...then I´ll have to do something...and Kreature, please, stop calling me young master...Reg is fine" and he shows the book to the house-elf. "this is a book about elves...and Kreature...I think the wizard community is not that smart if they captured faes and called them elves" he hands the book to Kreature who is looking at the pictures with nostalgia.

Of a place he can´t remember.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Petunia arrives in the great hall already finished her last class of the day- spells. She learned a spell and as much some eyes are disbelief that she got the spell right or semi-right...she did a spell and Petunia is too giddy to ignore that- and is now looking for her sister. Snape arrives a bit earlier saying Malfoy wanted to talk with him and resumes to read his book- too focused on the cover to look up to Petunia- "Hey, where is Lily?"

Snape still engrossed in his book. "Oh, she´s asking some questions to Prof Macgonall...she´ll be here in a minute or two" and Petunia could wait or could go see her sister. And well, Petunia Evans has little patience. She rose from the seat and Snape sees her marching to the Gryffindor house. 

"Hi, can I talk to Lily? I heard she´s with this Prof Macgonall" Petunia is polite. Her mother hammer this in her head and Lily´s too. Be polite. And a head girl stands up and looks up and down to Petunia- her eyes fixated on the snape symbol on her chest- and looks appalled for some reason. "She´s not here"

"I know...I want to..." her words stop as some other eyes are glaring at her. As if she´s a criminal and will commit a new crime again. "I want to talk with my sister..."

"She´s not here" she repeats with coldness now. Petunia is losing her patience and tries again now not so much polite.

"She said Lily Evans is not here" a new voice pipe in. A boy from sixth or seven year who emerged tall and is crossing his arms. "And even if we knew where she was...we wouldn´t tell you to think, slimy snake" the boy is looking at the snake symbol in her robes too.

Petunia draws her wand. "I.Just. Want. To. See. My. Sister" she is on the verge of hexing him. The boy pulls his wand and quickly disarmed her. 

"Less 20 points to try to harm the students, Miss Evans" his tone is equally cold as the head girl. "Leave or you´ll get detention...we look after each other and we´ll not let someone from your house harm Lily Evans"

The wrong house. Is what he´s implying more or less and Petunia leaves the great hall completely missing Lily entering the great hall with some books in her hand.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

The wrong house. Being from the wrong house somehow sting more than being called filthy. Why is that? "Should have waited...the Gryfyndors aren´t very happy with Slynterins and an opportunity to fight us...is welcome by them" she looks behind and see Snape - the boy puts his hand on his second-hand robes- and Petunia nods absently. They´re in Slytherin

room.

"Do they...treat you like this too?"

"Sometimes, but, I´m too smart to let them caught me..."

** You´re from the wrong house, Petunia. **

She looks down at her shoes. Now she looks at Snape. "Did I ever tell you were from a bad house?"

"Not with words"

Petunia remains mute. She lived well comparing to Snape, yet, she lives in the wrong house. No one has any saying in which house they will be, so, why be jerks about it. "Look" Petunia speaks again with a throaty tone. "I´m not the nicest person out there. I´m judgmental, snobbish, and envious...but, I want to try to be nice...as much I can be" and she looks at Snape.

"You´re a bit of asshole sometimes, you bottle most of your emotions and think Lily is wonderful because she shows you kindness. Snape, did you hit me with that branch on purpose?" Snape rolls his eyes.

"No, not that you believe me"

"I do now...and I´m sorry if I thought you were bad...being from the wrong house doesn´t mean you´re bad" and she adds a bit boldly. "Snape...I don´t think you´re like your father nor I think you´ll ever be"

Snape is mute taking those words into consideration.

"So, let´s make a promise..we´ll be here for a long while...promise to me you´ll not bottle your emotions. Promise to me you´ll not put Lily in a pedestal, she has flaws too as much you and me...and promise that if you ever need help...you´ll come to me" and she grins. "and I promise to try to not be a bitch"

"Will try..."

Petunia is not a warm person by any means. No, that´s Lily. She knows she should give a hug on the boy, but, all she can must is a nice tap on his shoulder. Well, the boy doesn´t seem to mind.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Bellatrix Black was hounding Petunia for a while, for a muggle who is famous...is quite hard to locate her, but, in the end, she did. Smiling like a predator who spots a weak prey Bellatrix has to ruin a nice moment between Snape and Petunia.

"So...is true, filthy hang out together" Bellatrix´s words made Snape´s winced and Petunia turns to see Bellatrix smirking at them cruelly. Petunia sighs and gestures to Snape to stay where he´s.

"And you´re?" Petunia asks not impressed.

"Filthy, you don´t know the most noble house of Black?"

"Your name is Filthy? Ok, if you want to be called by the first name so much" and how people gather around them Petunia doesn´t care...right now.

Bellatrix is seething. She looks at a boy who shakes his head and she growls but speaks again. "My name is Bellatrix Black...and I want to meet the muggle that pollutes this house...what are you doing here, trash?"

Look at Bellatrix deadpan. "Talk to filthy. So, your name is Filthy Bellatrix Black or Bellatrix Filthy Black?" and a part of the room starts to giggles at this joke.

Bellatrix draws her wand. No one is giggling anymore. "If you´re here...means you have magic, right, trash?" with a baby voice. And a red light escapes from Bella´s wand. It crashes a nice porcelain vase.

Petunia knows some spells. 

** She wants to kill me? Please... **

And Petunia cast a spell at Bella. Lumos. And it blinds her, of course, Bella can still fight even so, however, she stops and lays on the floor crying and this was enough to get Horace Slughorn-where he comes from?- total attention.

"Miss Black? What happened?" he asked after he cast a spell. The Lumos can blin temporarily and Prof Slughorn can get rid of this effect faster-one wave of his hand and Bella can see perfectly again- and Bella points at Petunia with a hurtful expression.

"Mr. Evans tried to hurt me. I was just talking with her and out of blue she starts to curse me" and Prof Slughorn seems to buy it.

"Miss Evans!"

Petunia is ready to argue this was not true, however, a girl too tall to be Lily-her type of red hair is more bright than Lily- steps in. "Professor is a lie. Bellatrix was the one to cause trouble"

Prof Slughorn looks at Bellatrix and then is quick to forgive the incident. Petunia looks at the girl and then back at Snape.

** Let´s be nice to each other. **

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The magical community of England can begrudgingly admit that "Evans" the German duelist is one of the best duelists of all Europe-they can and must point out all his flaws, for example, the famous duelist Evans is a hermit who lives in his castle and has no sense of protocols the Purebloods have-is right now in England talking with the Prime-Minister of magic.

"And that concludes the negotiation" Fudge states sweating a little. And to break the ice of such heavy mood. "Oh, I heard you have granddaughters and they are attending Hogwarts"

The man´s face is impartial. He looks to his assistant who looks equally confused. "Why I should talk about my personal life with you?" and leaves not bothering to give a response.

"Herr Evans, you have two granddaughters?"

"Uhm...it seems I have now"


End file.
